Yes, you can be addicted to stress, or almost anything else. Even if it is not a substance you can get addicted. Obviously things like gambling, work, adrenaline sports, anger and much more can all create chemical states in the body that flood the cells.

And when that happens, the receptor sites on the cells change to adapt to the environment.
When the receptor cells change (these are known NOW as the brain of the cell) it requires MORE of whatever it was getting that made the receptor sites change.
Make sense?

Now, stress, for instance, comes in many varieties. There is good stress and bad stress. Your receptors don’t care much, they just comply, and adapt.

Good stress- work projects, auditions, new business ventures, deadlines, learning something new, moving to a new place, going on a new date, and so on.
Bad stress- Pain, anger, divorce, losing jobs, losing friends, guilt, shame and so on and so on. And on and on. Ugh.

But what happens if you get kinda happy, relax, chill it out for a while? The stress chemicals are not being produced. That sure seems like a great thing.
However, your receptors say “hey, we need a fix” and you do something to increase your stress levels again.

A few years ago, I realized I was addicted to stress. Mostly the good kind.